After herding the sheep into the pen, Shen Yunfang tackled another big task—cleaning the sheep pen that hadn't been cleaned for two days. In fact, this was her job; she was in charge of letting the sheep out every morning and cleaning the sheep pen in the evening after returning.
It was only after she drove the sheep back into the pen and spontaneously picked up the shovel nearby that Shen Yunfang remembered she still had this task to do.
There was no point in saying anything else—since it was her own work, she just did it.
Upon entering the sheep pen, she first used the shovel to gather the scattered piles of sheep dung together, then she shoveled some earth from the outside pile and scattered it inside the pen. She also brought in some rice straw from the pile outside and placed it in the feeding trough.
She dragged over a grimy basket from the corner of the wall and shoveled the piled-up sheep dung into it. Opening the pen's gate, Shen Yunfang alternated her hands to exert force and dragged the basket out.
"Yunfang, let me help you," Shen Yingxue had been standing outside the whole time, only coming forward to offer help after seeing Shen Yunfang had finished cleaning.
Shen Yunfang glanced at her and refused, "No need. You're dressed so cleanly; better not to get your hands dirty. I can manage on my own."
After saying that, she strained to drag the basket all the way to the back of the yard. There was a manure pit there, where the usual waste from the pig pen, cattle shed, and sheep pen was accumulated. Once it fermented, it would be used as fertilizer for the production team during farming.
Shen Yunfang dragged the basket next to the manure pit, eyed the distance, and with a kick, tipped the basket over, causing the dung balls to tumble down into the pit.
She used the shovel to scrape down any escaped pieces, pushing them into the manure pit to finish the job.
By the time she had put the tools back in their places, whether it was psychological or not, she felt as though she reeked of sheep dung. Thinking about going to her uncle's house for dinner, she realized her appearance was not presentable, so she decided it would be best to go home and change her clothes first.
"Yunfang…" Shen Yingxue followed her closely.
"I'm off to my uncle's place for dinner. Are you still coming with me?" Shen Yunfang asked the person blocking her path.
Shen Yingxue hastily waved her hand, "No way, I need to go home too. Yunfang, let's meet up tomorrow morning and pick pigweed together, okay?" She dared not visit the team leader's house. Aside from Shen Yunfang, no one in the Shen Family liked her; she knew that well. Moreover, after a day of trailing and investigating, she realized that for some reason, Yunfang was quite displeased with her. It seemed impossible to expect Yunfang to be as selflessly devoted to her as before, so Shen Yingxue thought that by asking Yunfang to join her in picking pigweed, she could lighten her own burden. With more interaction, Yingxue hoped to soften the relationship by saying more nice things over time.
"After a long day, I'm really hungry. If you're not leaving, I'm going on ahead," Shen Yunfang did not pick up on the hint and walked past her.
"Yunfang, you've changed."
Shen Yunfang had only taken a few steps when she heard Shen Yingxue's slightly tearful voice. Her heart skipped a beat—had she gone too far and revealed some flaw?
"Aren't we the best of friends? Didn't you support my going to high school? Why won't you help me now? You know, if you don't help me, my parents definitely won't let me continue my studies," Shen Yingxue cried out. She had already skipped school for one day and if Shen Yunfang didn't agree to help her collect wild vegetables tomorrow, she wouldn't be able to go to school then either.
Shen Yunfang paused and let out a sigh of relief, without turning back she simply said, "Yingxue, I do want to help you, but you've seen it for yourself—I can barely take care of myself, I need to feed myself too. My uncle has already spoken to me about it, saying that if I could pick pigweed, he would let me raise my own pig. Right now, I'm raising pigs for other families, yet dragging Gaijiatun down, and a lot of people already have complaints. So Yingxue, it's best that your family figures out how to handle your own pigs from now on."
After Shen Yunfang finished speaking, she didn't care about Shen Yingxue behind her anymore and strode towards her own home.
Whether her words had an effect or not, this time Shen Yingxue did not follow, and Yunfang was finally rid of her, free at last.
Shen Yunfang walked back home with a cheerful stride, but as soon as she started rummaging through her cabinets for clothes, her spirits plummeted, leaving her close to tears.
She emptied the two redwood chests on the kang bed, which held a few pairs of pants and jackets, all the pants were dark blue with wide legs and a crooked flap, and all the jackets were printed, but not one was without patches.
She flipped through them and looked at the one she was wearing, speechless.
The one she had on was, in fact, the best among them, patched only at the elbow; the rest on the kang had patches ranging from four to five spots, some even layered on top of each other, a veritable hallmark of the era.
Wordlessly, she scrutinized the pile, although there really wasn't much to choose from; she was just weighing which pattern would make her lose the least face when she went out.
To ask a woman from the twentieth century to wear printed clothes out was indeed asking a bit much. But given the current circumstances, all she could do was steel herself and push through.
Shen Yunfang chose a red garment with white flowers, took off her outer layer, and awkwardly changed into the printed clothes.
Seeing that it was nearing November, the weather in the mountains at this time of year was no longer warm, hence Yunfang had been wearing cotton-padded jackets and trousers ever since her arrival. Though thin, they had only felt hot for a bit around noon while shepherding; in the mornings and evenings, they were just right.
Yunfang looked at her cotton jacket and then started to open another chest to search within.
With the weather already requiring thin cotton jackets, who knew how cold it might get when the heavy snows came in winter? She was new here and needed to check if there were any cotton jackets to get through the winter.
But after searching through both chests, she couldn't find another cotton jacket.
Yunfang felt stunned, thinking it couldn't be that this was her only cotton jacket. How had she ever endured past winters?
It was certain that if she went out in the big winter wearing only the jacket she had on now, she'd freeze stiff in no time.
While her mind was on these matters, her stomach growled with hunger, and Yunfang quickly left her house and headed for her uncle's home.
The Shen Family could be considered well-off in Gaijiatun, with Uncle Shen's household conditions being among the best in the village. Just take the house for instance; at a glance, Yunfang could see it was different from her own.
Though both were adobe houses, Uncle Shen's looked much more presentable than her own. Looking closer, the structure seemed taller than her house, and those windows appeared to be newly replaced, much larger than her own tiny ones, and they were glass windows too, making the inside and outside look bright and open.
Furthermore, the courtyard was well-kept, with gravel paving the way up to the entrance, all of it looking neat and imposing.